WEEKEND WEB: Making South Holland even more green and pleasant

CABINET CALL: This week by South Holland District Council leader Gary Porter

In 2015 the council committed to look at ways of developing some publicly accessible woodland and more public open space across the district.

Although many areas of South Holland have a good level of open space, the overall amount remains lower than we would like and a recent survey show that we have considerably fewer trees than most other districts of our size.

So since then we’ve been working with partners including the Woodland Trust to look at opportunities for tree planting, both on a small and a large scale.

It’s early days yet but we’re making progress and are looking at number of possible sites which could be potentially developed.

You don’t need me to tell you about all of the positive factors associated with tree planting and the health benefits that people can enjoy as a result, particularly in a picturesque place such as South Holland.

What I will say however, is that creating woodland ties in with the council’s priority of developing stronger and healthier communities, so I want to emphasize that it’s something we are determined to do.

I would also like to ask for people’s help on this subject. If there are any landowners out there that have sites they may be willing to sell on at a community minded price please get in touch with us.

We want to consider as many options as possible and I’m confident that we will have some positive news to report soon.

Switching subject now, you may be aware that Local Democracy Week takes place next month and I’m pleased to announce that South Holland District Council will be playing an active part.

The national event is being held between October 9 and 15 with the aim of engaging young people in local politics and providing an opportunity for them to voice their opinions and ideas.

I’m keen to support any initiative that raises awareness of how local democracy works here in South Holland and as part of the event, a number of our councillors will be interviewed by the local media.

I hope that Local Democracy Week will encourage young people to consider becoming councillors or embarking on a career in politics in the future.